Best install for my setup? (1 Viewer)

[JSW]

Hi,

This weekend I began upgrading my PCs from Windows 7 to 10. As part of that, I'll be replacing Windows Media Center, and Media Portal seems like the best choice. I've read a fair amount on Media Portal, and watched a couple of YouTube videos, but I'd like your advice on the best way to proceed with my setup.

Currently we have two personal PCs and two home theater PCs, all running Windows 7 Home Premium. We also have a media server with music and movies on it that is running Windows 7 Pro. I'll be upgrading each to the corresponding version of Windows 10. We also have two SiliconDust HDHomeRun dual tuners on our home network. Currently all five machines have the HDHomeRun software installed on them. We use it to watch live TV on the four PCs, and to watch live TV and function as a DVR on the server.

For the new setup, I was wondering about the following:

1. Would you recommend going with Media Portal 1 or 2 for my particular setup? I've read the comparison page, and 2 sounds like the way to go, but I've also seen some fairly recent posts where they elected to go with 1 because of issues they had with 2.
2. If I install the client and server piece on my server, and just the client on the PCs, would I only install the HDHomeRun software on my server, or would I install it on the four PCs as well? I assume only installing it on the server would simplify the setup (one time instead of five), but I'm also wondering if there would be any performance issues if all the live TV streams from the server instead of directly to each PC?

I may have other questions as my install proceeds, but this should get me started in the right direction.

Thanks for your help!

 

[HTPCSourcer]

Hello JSW and welcome to the MediaPortal community ,

There is no 100% clear recommendation that I can give you. It will actually depend on your personal likes with respect to what you would like to see as the program GUI (vulgo "skin") as well as your requirements in terms of using media center. If it's "just" to watch and record TV, play movies and series and manage your pictures and music, both programs are likely to meet your needs.

There a some limitations though. MP1 has a central TV database but everything else, i.e. movies, series, music and pictures, while stored on a central repository, will have their own local database on each client. You therefore have to somehow organize the mutual synchronization, however, plugins are available that can do the job. Nonetheless there may in some cases be issues and databases are under the risk of getting corrupted (repair is possible though).

In contrats to this, MP2 manages all information in one single place, thus avoiding MP1's synchronization challenge. MP2 is fairly advanced but does here and there have limitations, which will depend what you actually want your HTPC to do. The classic tasks mentioned above will be ok. You should also be aware that the current choice of skins is limited when compared to MP1. ON the plus side is the fact that there are two new skins under development, Win10 and WMC. Win10 is taking up the look and feel of Windows 10, while WMC is going to be as close as possible to your well-known Windows Media Center. Admittedly these two skins are not yet released but plans are to publish them together with the next official release of MP2 later this year.

I apologize for not really giving you a simple advice to turn either left or right, but I am trying to be as objective as possible in my descriptions. In any case you can try both (although not that easily in parallel).

The HDHomeRun topic is easxy to answer: channel information is required only once on your TV server, which will be the same for both software solutions.

 

[mm1352000]

Just for clarity...

If I install the client and server piece on my server, and just the client on the PCs, would I only install the HDHomeRun software on my server, or would I install it on the four PCs as well?

You need to install it on the server. Without that, MediaPortal's TV Server won't detect your tuners.
Installing on the four other PCs is completely optional. From a MediaPortal perspective there's no need to do that.

I assume only installing it on the server would simplify the setup (one time instead of five), but I'm also wondering if there would be any performance issues if all the live TV streams from the server instead of directly to each PC?

With MediaPortal the TV stream route is always HDHR -> MediaPortal TV Server -> MediaPortal. Obviously MediaPortal and TV Server run on different PCs in the case of your 4 other PCs. There's no way to have the stream go straight from the HDHR to MediaPortal, because MediaPortal itself doesn't have any way to receive the stream. That stuff is all in TV Server. There will be a small performance hit (in terms of channel change speed). You can minimise this by using UNC paths.

One other important tip: make sure you set the "main application" within HDHR Setup -> application tab (...that's where the setting used to be; hopefully it's still there) to "MediaPortal".

 

[CyberSimian]

Currently all five machines have the HDHomeRun software installed on them. We use it to watch live TV on the four PCs, and to watch live TV and function as a DVR on the server.

I notice that you are located in the USA. If you receive copy-protected content, I think that it is the case that you will not be able to record it using MediaPortal. MP does not satisfy the relevant DRM requirements. I believe that WMC is the only game in town for protected content.

-- from CyberSimian in the UK

 

[mm1352000]

@CyberSimian
He said he has "two SiliconDust HDHomeRun dual tuners". Since they're dual tuners, they can't be PRIMEs (which have 3 tuners). Therefore there is no CableCARD involved. Therefore DRM is not relevant.

In other words: we're dealing with over-the-air ATSC or clear QAM (AKA OpenCable). Neither of these are encrypted or DRM'd.

[edit: ...but a good and thoughtful suggestion - thanks! ]

 

[JSW]

Thanks for all the great information. I'm going to try the MediaPortal 2 route and see how that works out for me. At the moment, I've upgraded one of our HTPCs and our server to Windows 10. That will give me a pretty basic setup to try it out on.

And yes, we are just receiving over-the-air TV, so nothing is encrypted. Our whole HTPC setup arose several years back when I couldn't take Time Warner's pricing and service any more!

You need to install it on the server. Without that, MediaPortal's TV Server won't detect your tuners. Installing on the four other PCs is completely optional. From a MediaPortal perspective there's no need to do that.

]With MediaPortal the TV stream route is always HDHR -> MediaPortal TV Server -> MediaPortal. Obviously MediaPortal and TV Server run on different PCs in the case of your 4 other PCs. There's no way to have the stream go straight from the HDHR to MediaPortal, because MediaPortal itself doesn't have any way to receive the stream. That stuff is all in TV Server. There will be a small performance hit (in terms of channel change speed). You can minimise this by using UNC paths.

I want to make sure I understand this correctly. You say "Obviously MediaPortal and TV Server run on different PCs in the case of your 4 other PCs". I assume you are talking about the MediaPortal client running on the 4 PCs, and the TV Server running on our server, which will have the MediaPortal Server (and client in our case) running on it? If that is true, there is no reason at all to install the HDHR software on the four PCs (unless I needed it for some software other than MediaPortal), correct?

Thanks again for the help!

 

[HTPCSourcer]

I want to make sure I understand this correctly. You say "Obviously MediaPortal and TV Server run on different PCs in the case of your 4 other PCs". I assume you are talking about the MediaPortal client running on the 4 PCs, and the TV Server running on our server, which will have the MediaPortal Server (and client in our case) running on it? If that is true, there is no reason at all to install the HDHR software on the four PCs (unless I needed it for some software other than MediaPortal), correct?

Yep